Pucko's Perspective: Surrendering to the moment

It was the morning after the Boston Celtics had traded Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to Brooklyn in an NBA Draft Day deal. The morning wise guys on WEEI sports radio in Boston shared a little dark humor with their audience, just waking up to news of the trade. “So really,” one of the co-hosts asked, “When...

By Bill Pucko, columnist

MPNnow

By Bill Pucko, columnist

Posted Jul. 2, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 2, 2013 at 2:13 AM

By Bill Pucko, columnist

Posted Jul. 2, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 2, 2013 at 2:13 AM

MPNnow.com

It was the morning after the Boston Celtics had traded Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to Brooklyn in an NBA Draft Day deal. The morning wise guys on WEEI sports radio in Boston shared a little dark humor with their audience, just waking up to news of the trade. “So really,” one of the co-hosts asked, “When you learned that Pierce and Garnett were gone, didn’t you just assume Aaron Hernandez had killed them?”

That was the week it was in Boston. It began with the Bruins losing the Stanley Cup to the Chicago Blackhawks by giving up two late third-period goals within 17 seconds to blow a 2-1 lead in game six. As significant as that was, it wound up no better than the fifth-most important sports related story of the week in Boston.

The hockey game was of course trumped by the Wednesday arrest of New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, his release by the football team and subsequent arraignment on a murder charge. Hernandez was denied bail, and the story took on a life of its own. There was a story of a double homicide the year before that Hernandez was rumored to have had a possible role in. It was suggested that the crime may have led to the murder Hernandez was charged in. All the while, the former NFL star pleaded not guilty.

On Saturday, the murder victim, 29-year-old Odin Lloyd, was buried. An overflow crowd of mourners, which included members of Lloyd’s semi-pro football team, the Boston Bandits, spilled out of the church for the funeral.

The Boston Marathon bombing suspect was hit with a 30-count indictment in the April terrorist attack that killed three and injured more than 260. Seventeen of the federal charges faced by 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev warrant consideration of the death penalty.

These days sportscasters are being asked to do more than report the scores. They are forced to become par-time lawyers, criminologists, and sociologists. The aforementioned talk show hosts fielded a call from a veteran gang member who had done time in prison on a cocaine trafficking conviction, and referred to Hernandez as “a solid kid and a great guy.”

That much may or may not be true. There is plenty of circumstantial evidence to the contrary.

The point is, you can try to make sense of all of this. Do a conscientious job of trying to absorb and disseminate pertinent information in a responsible manner. Or simply surrender to the moment and go for the cheap laugh. Even though murder isn’t particularly funny.

Bill Pucko is a career journalist, an award-winning writer and broadcaster. He has worked for more than 30 years in television, radio, and newspapers in Rochester. He is a sports columnist for Messenger Post Media, co-founder and editor of Bylinesports.com, and producer and host of a high school sports show on WBGT.